Objectives

The objective of this class is to study the impact of computers on the workplace from the point of view of both the effect on the work activities and on the people involved. The latter impact can be subdivided into two categories:

The effect on employment (changes and redundancy), and

Ergonomic and health effects.

A major outcome of this class is the understanding of the three stages of computer insertion:

Task replacement by computer;

Task efficiency, proficiency, and productivity improvement by computer; and

New task insertion that would have been impossible without computerization.

Current Events

There has always existed an unfair distribution of access to the tools of
social mobility, but for the first time in history a technology exists that, to
a large extent, can level the playing field. When someone logs onto the
Internet, the wealth of information at that person's fingertips does not
care if he or she is rich or poor, in the majority or a minority. It simply sits
there and waits to be used by whoever can get to it. But there is a
problem. To date there has been an unfair access to the Internet that
mirrors the socioeconomic divisions in society. This unfair access is
called the Digital Divide and it has implications that reach to the very
social and economic core of our nation.

In an effort to provide policy makers and private sector leaders with some
of the insights they need to deal with the difficult issues surrounding the
Digital Divide, Gartner provides a National overview report as well as
individual state and regional report cards from an analysis of surveys with
40,000 American households.